The rumors have been out for weeks that KSHB was looking for a new morning weekday co-anchor to replace Curtis Jay, and they have now come true.

Station officials have confirmed that Jay is officially out at the NBC affiliate and a replacement will be named at a later date. Unfortunately for him, the station has been searching for his replacement for months.

The pairing of Jay and JiaoJiao Shen at the station never worked.

The February TV sweeps in Kansas City had the duo dead last in the mornings.

45 Responses

JAY FADING AWAY TO NOTHINGNESS
Yeah…Curtis was secretly fading away into nothingness over there at KSHB. Personally, I sort of believed he was never really liked. He was also one of those people where he had this random last day on air, but you never would’ve known it because they never said anything about it, nor did they probably ever intend to either.

Regardless though, I personally feel as if he wasn’t a good anchor. He always seemed surprised that it was his turn on camera next or even downright uncomfortable sitting at the desk himself. He and JiaoJiao were too opposite of one another.

However though! She and Lance this morning? Wow. That was actually pretty nice! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him sit there, although it was pretty odd seeing him sitting in that one specific spot rather than off to the side. When I first heard him reading a story about the MU Tigers, I thought they had either brought him in for a report or were using a package, but nope! He was actually anchoring. How nice.

I also find it interesting that his profile is already gone, yet Elizabeth Alex’s is still up. But maybe that’s because she is technically a “special correspondent.”

Something else that’s interesting is that their evening anchor job listing is gone…

JAY NOT A PHONY
I liked Curtis Jay for morning anchor at KSHB. He sounded sincere without the phoniness that a lot of news people have. I think they should have replaced Jiao Jiao Shen and kept Curtis Jay. I think I’ll sample KMBC in the morning, as Jiao Jiao and Brett Anthony are really annoying together, too much forced hilarity for me IMHO.

LIGHTS OUT!
Lance is a natural and I always felt Curtis was forced and uncomfortable. Maybe just a job away from another shot. He read without absorbing which often put the accent in a sentence in the wrong place which made for confusion in understanding. Sometimes I would ask my wife “What did he just say?”
We’ve all read books in bed when were tired before and got to the bottom of a page and realized not remembering what you just read. Then it was lights out. It seemed like it was daily with Curtis. Lights out!

TOO SHRILL
I thought Curtis Jay was terrible. I don’t wish anyone ill but I was hoping they would take him back at his former station. He and Jiao Jiao were just too shrill for me. He also came off as a bit of an idiot. Jiao Jiao is much better with someone like Lance. I hope they find a good replacement.

SERIOUS DOWNGRADE
To put it bluntly, I thought Curtis Jay sucked. To go from Jeff Vaughn to him was a serious downgrade. Hopefully KSHB pick someone better to replace him… but they probably won’t, just since KSHB has always had some of the worst people working in the local news market here, IMO.

PROBLEM IS CHEN
Jiao Jiao is AWFUL!!! Talk about down grade, Christa Dubill to her…ugh!! If it weren’t for Brett Anthony with weather I would switch over to KMBC Monday. Curtis and Brett worked well together the problem is Chen in the mix.

NOT A FAN
I wasn’t a huge Curtis Jay fan, but Jaoi Jaoi drives
me nuts. Her humor seems fake and forced to
me. I like Brett Anthony. Several of the new reporters
are awful but I don’t like the other stations worse
so I won’t switch. I did however think that Lance
did a great job in the anchor seat even with Jaoi Jaoi.

CHEMISTRY MISSING
I wrote in when JiaoJiao was hired to replace Christa, that the chemistry was missing between the morning people. She did not fit in, and still doesn’t. Too bad your station chose to get rid of Curtis Jay, who was much easier to listen to, then Chen, who is very annoying. Curtis made it tolerable. Makes me wonder who she knew to get that job. Brett is the only one I like in the morning, so will be changing my morning news to KMBC or Fox, as KCTV’s morning crew is also bad.

CURTIS JAY FAN
Curtis Jay is an excellent newscaster. He is so pleasant and has a wonderful happy laugh. I watched your channel because of him and Bret Anthony. I think you kept the wrong person. I will watch a different channel now. You made a big mistake.

MISTAKE
what a mistake to oust curtis! he brought news with a positive attitude every morning…not the typical stereotype serious doomsday newscaster! not to mentione he is handsome… to switch channel! cant say much about jjs

CORPORATE TV
Another case of big corp. does not or is not willing to work with someone, Ch 41 is fowlling exactly in the foot steps of the Today show. Why don.t they take a good hard look at the managers instead of blameing Fido
all the time.
Thank you

THOUGHTS ON CURTIS
I can’t agree more with the many of the sentiments expressed about Curtis.

While he seemed like a nice enough person, he seemed so unprepared each time he was on camera. I had the troubling impression each day that he:
– didn’t understand most of the stories he was reading
– didn’t prepare by reading his scripts in advance
– never noticed what type of story was next (tragic? touching?) so he could adjust his tone and facial expression.

And most troubling, he didn’t seem to care about getting better. There was never any improvement. I wondered what he did before newscasts instead of writing, reviewing and looking up word definitions and their pronunciations. Just hanging out on the Plaza?

Wish him the best in his next job and hope he’ll learn from this experience that you can’t just phone it in day after day and expect the audience (and management) not to notice.

CURTIS AND CHRISTA
Wish they would have kept Curtis Jay!!! I loved it when Christa Dubill was there in the morning with Curtis and Bret. They all seemed to work well together. When Jiao Jiao came in the chemistry left and I could not stand to watch any longer. My wife still watched but now that Curtis is gone she is no longer going to watch. Bret is the only good person left!!!

THOUGHTS ON CURTIS
I, for one, thought that when Curtis Jay joined KSHB’s morning newscast that he was great and had chemistry with Christa Dubill. Though Dubill seemed to get irritated by Jay at times for laughing and giggling too much when he first started, that eventually ceased once he became more comfortable with his new co-anchor. His delivery was conversational and he rarely made verbal flubs but that all changed when Shen joined the newscast.
I love Shen but Jay did not connect with her and for some reason he became a horrible newscaster. It seemed he was just reading words off of the teleprompter without any knowledge of what the heck he was saying. His flubbing of words and having to constantly say ‘I’m sorry’ after every mishap was so bad that I felt embarrassed for him and would turn to another station. I also believe that when the new General Manager was brought in, Jay may have become afraid and lost his focus cause he felt his job was in jeopardy.

BLAMING WRONG PERSON
Interesting how people are all blaming Shen for the lack of chemistry during the morning news cast. Why is it so hard for you to accept that Jay was just terrible? He was terrible when Dubill anchored with him… THEY had chemistry because she’s also terrible. Of course, when 41 finally hires someone good, it’s that person’s fault that the other person sucked. No wonder the news business around here is rarely taken seriously, anymore.

KOCH NAME
The last straw for me was the day Curtis Jay mispronounced Charles Koch (coke) Charles Koch (cotch, like the NY former mayor). Geez, the Koch brothers are huge in this region. And we just came through the campaign season when their names were on the national news every other day…

BRING BACK CURTIS
It looks like Curtis should have stayed and Jiao Jiao (I think I say is so funny)Shen should have gone to us. She is so irritating with her shrill voice and cutesy attitude. Bring back Curtis !!!

CURTIS OKAY
I thought Curtis was ok . Not near as bad as Donna on KMBC mornings. She CONSTANTLY stammers and stumbles thru the news. Now , if KSHB will get some common sense and get rid of Lezak & “Stormy the Weather Dog” they may come up in the ratings. The first time I saw a dog laying on the Weather desk , I couldn’t believe it !

NO CHEMISTRY
I miss Curtis and had to find out what happened to him. But I agree with a few that Shen is what changed the chemistry there, she’s not fit well for me and I liked Jay.
I saw Lance Veeser(?) doing a good job, and I like Lindsey Shively, too.

WRONG ONE PICKED
The station picked the wrong one to oust! Jay was fine. It is Jao Jao Shen that is horrible. Tell her to sit on her hands. She drives everyone I know crazy with all the hand gestures. Very unprofessional and a pro journalism no-no. Look for her replacement right away.

CURTIS WAS REAL
I think you made a huge mistake,Jaio Jaio is incredibly irrating!!!!!!!! Yes Curtis may of flubbed his lines,mispronounced words and heaven forbid announciate at the wrong time,BUT he was real,unlike the phony incredibly annoying Jaio, Jaio. If Brett wasn’t on I would switch to another channel

MORE NATURAL
I liked Curtis Jay a lot and felt his delivery of the news was more natural than anyone they have at KSHB. I like Brett Anthony and the rest of the team, but think the wrong news anchor was let go.

LIKES EVERYONE
I am sorry to see Curtis Jay go – neither he or Jaio Jaio were/aren’t that good, but ok. I like everyone, especially Christa Dubill. I have to say I really dislike Jadiann Thomas. she may be the deal breaker for me- enough to make me switch to another channel. She is the one “truly bad hire” that KSBH has done. Very irritating voice, interrupts other anchors, and I think she tries too hard to be liked, very phony. Sorry she was hired – get rid of her!

LOVED MORNING TEAM
I couldn’t be more disappointed that Curtis Jay is no longer with KSHB. Curtis was so natural in his delivery. I loved that morning team!!!! Without Curtis it will never be the same….sooooo sad.

THOUGHTS ON KSHB FOLKS
I thought Jeff Vaughn was awful but enjoyed Curtis Jay. I also like Jiao Jiao but really didn’t at first and surprised to hear that people were turned off by their chemistry. I also am glad to see Najhe Sherman gone as I found her vain, stupid and pompous. Mitch Weber isn’t doing much for me-Curtis was much more joyful and cheerful. I was also surprised that they brought in an addtional evening female anchor after Elizabeth Alex left as Christa Dubill seemed fine to me for both the 5 & 6 shows. Jadiann seems ok though I can’t stomach her name, mainly because it goes against phonics, which may be stupid but it just rubs me the wrong way, along with all the heavy makeup.

MISSES CURTIS
I like Curtis Jay and missed him in the mornings! The only reason I ever watched KSHB in the mornings was because of the weather guy! I NEVER watch KSHB in the evenings because of the idiot Jack Harry! Take him off and I might watch!

NOT AN EASY JOB
I’m not a morning news watcher, but was curious about Curtis. This was the first result when I Googled his name. I met Curtis at random over lunch today and we had a great conversation. Through that I learned of his work at KSHB. In conversation, he was affable, well spoken, and very in tune with the systemic problems of this industry, for instance its lack of consequence in information consumption today.

Naysayers: I can only imagine a fair amount of you have zero experience in the field, or perhaps in front of large audiences. I’ve been in similar scenarios under high pressure a number of times. It’s not the easiest thing to do, especially when as many said here, the chemistry with your peer is just not there. And so is the gravity of your critiques.

MISSES JAY
I miss Jay behind the desk. Jiao Jiao sucks and has no personality, Mitch Weber is dry and stiff, and the. There was Crista Dubill who moved onto afternoons and evenings… Then again, the only female anchoring talent they have is Cynthia, and I have a feeling that management wants her gone since shes not as much about making things sound scary as most everyone else at KSHB is. “If you live in Independence, you’ll be murdered this year. Details at 10.”